I’m Very Proud of All My Brothers, but Today I’m Especially Proud of Eric
My younger brother,* Eric, has always had a fascination with audio and video technology. I remember, when he was an RTV major in college, I played piano for a brief radio program he had put together for a class project. It had to contain certain elements, one of which was a musical number. He knew a college guy who played the accordion, and the guy agreed to play for the program.
Eric made sure we all knew that this was to be done like
live radio, so timings had to be perfect. And we would do it only once while
his teacher, in the booth with him, looked on severely—just to screw the stress
up one more little notch. (Come to
think of it, most teachers looked severe back in the 1980s.) Then Eric gave us
directions, and his speech went something like this:
One of the first things to ensure
a good performance is strict attention to the director. I’ll keep my directions
simple…. If I make a slashing motion across my throat, it means “cut the scene
short.” If I make a revolving motion with my hand, it means “pick up the
tempo.” If I spread my hands apart, it means “slow down.”
If those words sound familiar, it’s because I stole them
from A Charlie Brown Christmas. But that was the general gist of
his talk.
Suddenly, we were off, with a piano intro under the
announcer’s voice. I don’t recall all of the elements, but when it came time
for the accordion solo, the fellow started in with verve.
Unwisely, perhaps, Eric hadn’t auditioned this young man,
taking his word that he could play the accordion—and, it was true, he certainly
could. He was to play a hymn, and Eric had told him he might need to play
several verses to fill the time. “No problem,” said the dude. “I’ll do
variations on each verse.”
Verse one was fine, a straightforward presentation of the
melody. Verse two also went well, with a few embellishments added. Eric
gestured, “Keep going!”
Apparently the fellow had used up all the items in his
variations repository on verse two. (It was a small repository.) So he took off
on verse three, playing the entire verse and chorus in little spastic bursts.
You know how a little kid plays with a toy accordion? He
just makes tiny squeezing motions back and forth as fast as he can: “Ee-ooh-ee-ooh-ee-ooh-ee-ooh!”
Well, that was the guy’s variation for the entirety of verse three and its
chorus.
Imagine with me, if you will, the sound. If someone had
been singing along, it would have sounded something like this, with each hyphen
representing a gasp:
W-ould-yo-u-be-ee-free-ee-fr-om-yo-or-bur-rr-den-of-si-nn?--
Th-ere’s-pow-rin-the-bl-ood,-
P-ow-rin-the-bl-ood!-
It was awful, which meant it was also hilarious. Listening from the piano bench, I kept my head down, stifling an outburst. Then I did something very dangerous. I raised my eyes to look at Eric. He caught my eye for just a second and then wisely looked away, keeping his emotions in check. (The unblinking gaze of Mrs. Severe made it clear that he had no choice.) But there had been a silent brotherly communication in that second that said, “You and I are going to get together later and laugh our heads off!”
When the program reached its conclusion, Mrs. Severe turned to Eric. “Very good work! A fine job! I especially appreciated the accordion solo—so peppy!”
OK, I made that part up. But he did get a good grade on the project.
When I started this post, it was going to be a simple plug
for Eric’s latest video projects, but then that anecdote walked into the room,
and I couldn’t get rid of him till he’d had his say!
So, if you’d like to see examples of Eric’s latest AV efforts, please check out his YouTube channel and the beautiful, professional, heartwarming videos referenced below. Your day
will be a better for it.
Oh, and, don’t worry, you won’t hear an accordion in them anywhere!
Things I Never Knew Existed in Fredericksburg
Why Go to Cemeteries?
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